Academics

Gonzaga Professor, Poet Tod Marshall to Read Here April 13

Tod Marshall, associate professor of English at Gonzaga and a poet, will read some of his works at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 13 in the Cataldo Hall Globe Room. The event is free and open to the public. Photo courtesy Tod Marshall.

Poet Tod Marshall, an associate professor of English at Gonzaga University, will read from his works at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 13 in Gonzaga University’s Cataldo Hall Globe Room. The event, which is free and open to the public, is the sixth and final reading in the 2009-2010 Gonzaga University Visiting Writers Series. At 4 p.m. April 13, Marshall will host a question-and-answer session in College Hall Room 128.

Marshall directs the Gonzaga English department’s writing track and coordinates the Gonzaga University Visiting Writers Series. On sabbatical this academic year, Marshall has been busy touring the West Coast and the Midwest, reading poetry from his latest collection of poems, “The Tangled Line” (2009, Canarium Books) available online at Amazon.com and the Zag Shop. His tour continues this spring.

“As always we’re finishing the reading series with a Gonzaga person – and this year, well, it’s me,” Marshall said. “I’m honored to be part of this series that Gonzaga has supported so well over the years. It’s been a great year sabbaticalling – that’s now a verb; I’ve read many places, and, to be honest, this is the only one I’m nervous about.”

Tod Marshall enjoys a hike along some of the beautiful trails in the Pacific Northwest. Photo courtesy Tod Marshall.

Among the many poetry-reading destinations for Marshall during his sabbatical leave have been Eastern Washington University, Cheney; University of Iowa, Iowa City; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Siena Heights University, Adrian, Mich.; Open Books Bookstore, Seattle; University of Oklahoma, Norman; Powells Books, Portland, Ore.; and Aunties Bookstore, Spokane. He will read April 20 at the Lit Fest in Pasco, Wash. Marshall also conducted an Artist’s Residency at Centrum in Port Townsend, Wash., as part of a Gonzaga faculty research grant.

Marshall’s writings deal with myth, history, landscape, pop culture, aesthetics, struggle and acceptance and the circumstances of family conflict. American poet and New York University Professor Yusef Komunyakaa said this about Marshall’s new book: “These words shot me through the heart. What witty, controlled moments of serious, needful signification. These poems speak for themselves. I truly love this book.”

Marshall’s first collection, “Dare Say,” captured the University of Georgia’s Contemporary Poetry Series in 2002. He also received a Grants for Artist Projects award and an Artist Trust Fellowship award from the Washington Artist Trust. Other works by Marshall include “Range of the Possible” (EWU Press, 2002), a collection of interviews with poets, and an accompanying anthology of poems by the interviewed poets, “Range of Voices” (EWU Press 2005). Poets in these collections include Robert Hass, Li-Young Lee, Brenda Hillman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ed Hirsch, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, and others. Marshall’s poetry and prose have been widely published.

Marshall initiated the Gonzaga University Visiting Writers Series, which offers lectures and readings at Gonzaga throughout the academic year by prominent writers who express diverse perspectives. The series received a $5,000 grant from Humanities Washington to fund appearances by writers of regional and national importance.

Writers who have presented at Gonzaga this year through this series were Denis Johnson, National Book Award winning novelist; Katrina Roberts, a poet from Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.; Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; renowned feminist poet Sharon Olds; and University of Washington poet and professor Richard Kenney.

For more information, contact GU English Associate Professor Tod Marshall at (509) 313-6681 or via e-mail at marshall@gonzaga.edu.